President of India, Droupadi Murmu conferred Padma Shri to Smriti Rekha Chakma in the field of Art from Tripura during Civil Investiture Ceremony in New Delhi on Thursday.
A brief citation about the life and work of the awardee is :
Smriti Rekha Chakma(Padma Shri):
Smriti Rekha Chakma is a Chakma indigenous expert artisan on the ethnic textiles of Tripura and a modern traditional textiles designer too.
Born on September 20, 1964, she has been weaving since childhood using the traditional Loin Loom and mastered on the craft at an early age. Later she developed her skills in herbal dying of cotton yarns from eco-friendly variant plants, herbs, seeds, flowers, roots, barks, leaves etc. collected from jungles. Her works have found place in various temples and museums of both in the state and abroad. Over the last two decade she participated in several seminars, workshops, demonstrations, trainings etc. in Tripura, Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Assam to showcase creation of her prestigious items.
Smriti Rekha Chakma represented India in various conferences & workshops outside the country such as Regional Back Strap Loom Conference & Workshop in 2009, Dhaka, Natural colours programme on 2009 as a Guru by the Prabartana, Dhaka and Trade & Investment Show lndia-Myanmar-2014. Yangon. To preserve her skills several documentary films were being filmed such as Doordarshan Film named “Culture & Handicrafts of Tripura” on the Chakma traditional weaving, designing and herbal dyeing by Film Division. Culcutta, Doordarshan documentary “The Culture & Heritage of Chakma” and Doordarshan Kendra, Tripura film named “Parbatta Tripurar Ekti Ujjal Nakshatrar Naam Smriti Rekha Chakma”.
She founded the NGO named “Ujeia Jadha” (Advance Society) in 1999 for up gradation of the rural women folk for their education & economy. She conducted training centers on weaving & natural dyeing on free food, lodging & also provided stipend to the trainees under her teaching. As a result, four of her trainees were also awarded National Awards.
Smriti Rekha Chakma was felicitated with many accolades on various occasions like State Bizu Mela-2002, Tripura; International Chakma Literary & Cultural Festival-2018, Tripura, International Poet & Literary Utsav-2022, Fhtirbareng, Chakma Literary Academy, Tripura.
She received numerous awards and honours in her lifetime including National Award in 2000, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India; Guru Shishya Paramparya-2011 Dimapur, Nagaland; Sutrakar Samman-2018, Delhi Crafts Council, New Delhi; Sant Kabir Award for Master Weaver in 2018 by Ministry of Textiles, World Crafts Council Award in 2018 from the UNESCO, South Asia Region, Kuwait and Lifetime Award-2022, International Chakma Foundation, Tripura.
(Tripura, Tripura News)
